The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum has a digital library containing thousands of photographs of plants and animals. The digital library is an interactive site that has a kidâs page with videos, animal sounds, and games.
The photo is courtesy of: http://members.multimania.nl/onager/ballista.htmlMangonelThe Mangonel is what many people think of when they think of a catapult. From the Latin word manganon meaning engine of war. The Mangonel was invented by the Romans in 400 BC. The Mangonel consists of a long wood arm with a bucket (early models used a sling) with a rope attached to the end. The arm is then pulled back (from natural 90o angle) then energy was stored in the tension of the rope and the arm. Then the bucket would be loaded.
Catapults have been integral to siege warfare since antiquity. Though ancient Catapults were one of the most effective weapons in siege warfare. Various types of Catapults have been used by the Greeks, Romans, and Chinese. The first catapults were early attempts to increase the range and power of a crossbow. Diodorus Siculus, a Greek historian, was the first to document the use of a mechanical arrow firing catapult (early Ballista) in 399 BC. Catapults as we think of them were introduced to Europe during the Middle Ages. Catapults made their exhibition in England in 1216 during the Siege of Dover, the French crossed the Channel and were the first to use Catapults on English soil.